ANGLING FOR OUANANICHE 67 



the dropper alone appears upon the surface of the 

 water. I have almost always found it successful to 

 have the tail-fly slightly under water when fishing 

 in springtime for ouananiche. There are guides at 

 Lake St. John who urge you to fish with only one 

 fly, evidently fearful of seeing two fish hooked on 

 one line at the same time, and sharing the belief of 

 some who have written on the subject, relative to the 

 impossibility of saving them both. I admit that if 

 the ouananiche are both of a good size and in fair 

 fighting trim, the task of killing them will prove a 

 difficult one. But as fly-fishermen are not, as a rule 

 at any rate, in search of ease and speed in the killing 

 of their fish, the increased difficulty arising from 

 having two ouananiche instead of one upon the line 

 means simply a very largely increased measure of 

 enjoyment of one of the most exciting forms of the 

 sport. Besides, it does look a little more chivalrous, 

 perhaps, to fight against such odds, making it one 

 man to two ouananiche, instead of one fish to one 

 man. Even in the latter case it is generally the guide 

 that handles the net, which practically turns the odds 

 the other way, and makes the fight one between two 

 men and one ouananiche. And, after all, the one fish 

 is not infrequently too much of a match for a couple 

 of men, though whenever it can prove itself so no- 

 body should begrudge it liberty. In fishing with a 

 couple of flies there is always, too, to be taken into 

 consideration the double chance of offering the fish 

 an acceptable lure. Little fields of white scum or 

 brou float round and round in this Ouiatchouan pool 

 because of the existence of contrary currents. You 



